The sweet and sour

[asubimmer]

Ok well I thought it would be nice of me to buy myself one of the oem lighted shift knobs for my car. I got it today and decide to to a test wire up (this is after I got off work at 11). I wird it to the light that goes to the rear ash tray in the ebrake consule (I took out my ebrake consule so I also removed the light so all the power was going to the shift knob light). I was working great untill I got like halfway to my friends house...and then the cluster lights, obc, hazard and defroster button, and shift knob went out!!!! Now the shift knob was lighted red...I thought they lit up orange (I bought the 6spd one b/c I found an awsome deal) and I don't know if it was supposed to be red or it was getting the wrong power...that can sometimes change the color of led's. I checked my fuses and 23 was out (the person I bought my car from had a 10amp fuse in it instead of a 7.5) and I changed it and still no lights?!?!? ALL the other lights work fine..

Although it gives the car a stealthy feel to it at night...I can't see how fast I'm going

But I do love the shift knob....it was time to get rid of the crappy stock one

[asubimmer]

morning bump

[marakka]

Well..... with my limited knowledge of this systems wiring... here goes...


Lights dont just go out all at once. So you've got 3 possibilites here. My first guess would be that there is another fuse blown. This might have been caused by a poor install and wires shorting out... hint hint wink wink. Check ALL your fuses. IF thats not the culprit then the other 2 things it could be are burnt wiring and blown bulbs..... ALL OF THEM. Not likely. The wiring...... there would have been some indication that the wires were burning..... they don't just do it all stealth like. Smoke, flames, smell... you'd have seen something. Good luck with this. Let us know what the outcome is.

[asubimmer]

thanks I'll double check them...anyone else?

[mikeedler]

youve blown your light switch itself! my nephew did it to his car doing the exact same thing. get a new switch, and wire the knob to someting by the connectors under the dash.

[marakka]

That all runs through the headlight switch?

[asubimmer]

youve blown your light switch itself! my nephew did it to his car doing the exact same thing. get a new switch, and wire the knob to someting by the connectors under the dash.

CRAPPPP...I was wondering if it did something like that...I was just at bret's today and could have got one...blast

so whats the best thing under the dash to wire it to? also are the shift knobs supposed to be red...I thoght they were orange...but it did look really hot for the 5 min it worked!!

[mikeedler]

I think it has to do with the whole dimmer transistor crap in it. run it to something directly at the switch, is what i did. I think it will work from the same place, i just think it may have shorted the way he put it in. I ran mine to the wire off the switch that runs to the park lights, (bigger bulbs, more amps--i guessed) you couldnt dim it though.
did seem kinda red to me, and the one i had in my old car was a red, but it was a fake knock off- the one in my M3 is an orig. one, and i think its really old, but it lights orange.

[asubimmer]

thanks a ton....I guess I need a new dimmer thing now...my shift knob is an original BMW one so maybe it was getting to much power and making it red or something? who knows haha

[asubimmer]

OK I am trying to line up another dimmer...I'll let you guys know what happens

[asubimmer]

ok I picked up another dimmer switch from bret and now the lights work again....would wiring the knob to the cig lighter be fine?

[asubimmer]

bump....anyone know?

[asubimmer]

so does the cig lighter thing sound good...I don't really want to mess up the new dimmer ;)

[808BMW]

Sounds like thats a pretty powerful shift knob, I wouldn't connect it to anything.

Run a new fused wire to an empty slot in your fusebox.

[asubimmer]

its just the original bmw shift knob...from the newer bmw's